


love letter

by stannide



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-01
Updated: 2014-12-01
Packaged: 2018-02-27 18:13:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2702459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stannide/pseuds/stannide
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In his wanderings, Sasuke encounters someone from Sakura's past.</p>
            </blockquote>





	love letter

**Author's Note:**

> [yo narutopedia is thorough](http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Morio)

"So you’re from the Leaf, eh?"

Sasuke nods.  

"Must be a lot different from round here," Morio laughs.  The Iwagakure nin gestures toward the buildings that surround them. 

Walking down the main thoroughfare, Sasuke eyes the facades with interest.  Despite the miles he has traversed, this is his first visit to the Hidden Village of Stone.  The rocky spires loom forbiddingly over them, stretching high into the sky as though hurtling toward infinity.  

This, Sasuke can respect.  ”The monuments are impressive.”

Morio grins.  The pride in his voice is a tangible thing.  ”Built by our ancestors way before we even learned any jutsu.  Crazy, isn’t it?”

Talk of ancestors is enough to make Sasuke fall silent.  The sudden quiet carries for an entire block.  

"Why don’t you, uh," Morio tries, breaking Sasuke out of his thoughts, "tell me about Konoha?"

It is another topic Sasuke would rather not discuss as yet.  ”The forests are dense.”

Morio laughs nervously at the bland response and, not surprising Sasuke, fails to take the hint.  ”Yeah, I kinda figured.  I mean, I’ve never been, but I met a couple of Leaf folks during the war.  Man, there was this one kunoichi, come to think…”

While Sasuke is grateful for Morio’s generosity in guiding him through Iwa, the man’s love life is not an especial matter of interest.  He wishes momentarily for Naruto’s way with people; surely, his idiot of a best friend would know how to divert the conversation with grace.  

Alas.

"Beautiful woman," Morio goes on.  "Eyes like—well, I got nothing to compare ‘em to.  Greener than anything I’d ever seen back here in Iwa."

Despite himself, Sasuke listens now with rapt attention.

"The lot of us fancied ourselves in love with her.  She was a big shot medic-nin, and, you know, you were there.  You know how it was like out on the front lines.  All of us putting our necks on the line, day in, day out."

Morio’s voice falls.  There is no real glory in being a war veteran.  The war’s shadow hangs over the abrupt silence—a requiem for the many, from both Konoha and Iwa, that were not able to live past the bloodshed.

After a moment, Morio continues.  His words are much brighter now, and he begins to raise his hands in avid gestures.  

"After a real hard won battle, I didn’t think I was going to make it.  My comrades were saying their goodbyes already.  All the other medics were giving up, saying that there wasn’t any hope…  And then that woman walks right in and saves me.  Gives me a second chance."

Morio offers Sasuke a sheepish smile.  ”Ha, I reckon it’s a wartime cliché, falling for the medic.  But, really, once I was recovered, it was like someone lit a fire under my ass.  Suddenly, I had to tell her how I felt.  I get it in my head that it’s a great idea to write her a love letter—seriously, I was on a roll with the clichés here—and I tell myself,  _you gotta man up, Morio.  You gotta do this_.  Man to man, I’m sure you know what it’s like.”  

Sasuke doesn’t.  He isn’t certain, suddenly, that he wants to hear this story to its conclusion.   But he says,  ”Sure.”  

It’s all the prompting Morio needs.  ”So I stay up all night writing this letter, yeah?  Next day, I go up to her, and I’m tripping all over my words, making an ass of myself trying to give this woman a bloody piece of paper.” 

Morio exhales in a long, drawn out sigh and allows a pregnant pause.  For drama or out of nostalgia, Sasuke cannot discern.  Either is irritating.  In this instance, Sasuke would rather not waste time with theatrics.

"Of course," Morio finally concludes, "the lady goes and says she’s already got someone else."  He shakes his head, laughing.  "Lucky bastard.  Bet you he’s with her now that it’s all over.  Hell, I’d be."

The lucky bastard would be, Sasuke does not say.  Were there not the weight of his sins to carry.  Were he a better man.  The image of her comes to him, unbidden.  As Sasuke often does in his travels, he imagines what she might be doing at the present moment.  Wonders if she is well, hopes that she is happy.  Sasuke thinks of her eyes, greener than anything he has ever seen in all of his wanderings.

"You’re, uh, really not much of a talker, are you?"  Sasuke’s silence has again put the other man on edge.  Morio fumbles to fill the spaces.  "Well, look at me, going on and on like that.  You probably even know who I’m talking about, don’t you?  Being from the Leaf and all—"

"I do."

Morio scratches the back of his head, his cheeks colouring.  ”N-now I’m just embarrassed.  Hear me out a little…”

The Iwa nin ploughs clumsily on, making excuses and offering explanations, until Sasuke, at length, interrupts.

"No," he says.  "She is worth your admiration."

.

.

.

They locate Sasuke’s inn not long after that.  The conclusion of their short-lived companionship is, perhaps, a mercy upon them both.  In the solitude of his room, Sasuke kneels to unroll his futon and open the contents of his travelling sack.  He unpacks meticulously, relishing the silence that so unsettled Morio.  

It is when he unearths his scrolls that he gives pause.  His hands begin move of their own accord.  Before he is aware of what is happening, a fresh scroll is laid out in front of him. Sasuke breathes in the scent of new parchment.  He reaches once more into his belongings.

_Suddenly, I had to tell her how I felt.  I get it in my head that it’s a great idea to write her a love letter…_

Sasuke opens his inkwell and dips a brush into the pigment.  


End file.
